USE of the six Gwent railway stations on the Ebbw Valley line increased by more than seven per cent during 2010/11, newly published figures reveal.

More than three-quarters of a million (770,602) entries and exits were recorded at the stations – Rogerstone, Risca and Pontymister, Cross Keys, Newbridge, Llanhilleth and Ebbw Vale Parkway – up 53,336 on the previous year.

Confirmation of the increase in the line’s popularity comes a day after the Argus revealed that Blaenau Gwent AM Alun Davies, in a letter to transport minister Carl Sargeant, believes that an Ebbw Valley line link to Newport is not necessarily in the best interests of his constituency.

That view drew a sharp rebuke from politicians up and down the length of the line, and is sure to spice up future debate about a Newport link, for which the Argus has campaigned for a decade.

What is clear from the usage figures is that people like using the Ebbw Valley service and that there is a huge economic and social potential in the railway that, for Newport, remains largely untapped.

Across Wales, there was a 4.3 per cent increase in rail station use in 2010/11, a rate bettered by five of the six Ebbw Valley line stations.

At Llanhilleth there was a 13 per cent increase in use, with 75,342 entries and exits recorded, and at Rogerstone, usage was up 10 per cent, at more than 101,000.

Ebbw Vale Parkway was by far the best-used station on the line, with 246,718 entries and exits recorded, with Newbridge the next busiest, at 132,092.

Stations on other lines through Gwent also experienced increased use.

Newport recorded 2,291,040 entries and exits, five per cent up, and there were increases too for Severn Tunnel Junction (15 per cent), Chepstow (six per cent), Caldicot (five per cent), Abergavenny (four per cent), and Cwmbran, and Pontypool & New Inn (both three per cent).